Tag Archives: Elton John

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

2 December 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fifty years ago, Elton John’s double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road spent 10 weeks as the number one album on the Billboard 200, from the week of November 10th through December 29th, 1973. The album is Elton John’s most successful, selling an estimated 31 million copies.

The attached video is from Elton John’s performance at the Glastonbury Festival on the Pyramid Stage, Worthy Farm, Pilton, England. The concert was recorded on 25 June 2023, as part of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road World Tour, which was billed as his final UK show. The tour began in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 8 September 2018, and finished in Stockholm, Sweden on 8 July 2023. It was a five-year tour, grossing almost a billion dollars, the third highest tour to date, eclipsed only by Taylor Swift and Coldplay.

Trivia: The album liner notes feature an illustration of head silhouettes in front of a movie screen, which inspired a similar graphic for the comedic film review TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Source: Billboard. BestSellingAlbums.org. Graphic: Yellow Brick Road Album Cover and the song Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting, DJM Records.

Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 2

7 October 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 2. — I Got A Woman

Kenny Wayne Shepherd has recently unveiled his 2024 follow-up, Vol. 2, to the acclaimed 2023 release, “Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 1“.

Conceived at the Muscle Shoals’ Fame Studios, brought to life in L.A., the album offers seven new electric blues tracks, plus one cover, each featuring outstanding hooks, riffs, guitar solos, and lyrics that fans have come to expect from his music.

Just like in Vol.1, the horn section featuring Joe Sublett on sax and Mark Pender on trumpet infuses the band’s sound with a delightful, soulful funky mix. Stax couldn’t have done it better.

Continuing the tradition from Vol.1, which included a cover of Elton John’s rockin’ 1973 hit “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” KWS and the band leap six years beyond “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to perform ZZ Top’s rollicking “She Loves My Automobile” from their 1979 album “Deguello”. Wonderful.

Trivia: The first hit record from Fame Studios was the 1961 smash “You Better Move On” by Arthur Alexander, which was later covered by the Rolling Stones on their 1964 EP, The Rolling Stones.

Source: Apple Music. AllMusic. Graphic: Kenny Wayne Shepard, Dirt on My Diamonds Vol.2, Official Lyric Video, Provogue and KWS Music, Inc.